An alternative slogan if you don't like that one: Someone has to win this crappy division(from alnorth)

With the beginning of a new year, it is time for the 2012 version of the Royals Repository Thread. We've got Hosmer, we've got a 2011-dominating Gordon, we've got Moose, we've got hopefully a killer bullpen, we've got a stereotypical slow slugging DH, we've got easily one of the best defensive shortstops in the AL, we've got a promising catcher in Salvador Perez. Hell, we've got offense and promising prospects galore.

We do not have starting pitching.

Oh yeah, we've also got this:

Get ready for, (as of January 2012 anyway), one of the most confusing puzzles of a baseball season in recent Royals history. Will they suck? Maybe, I don't know. Will we be given a year of 0.500 baseball? Possibly, I don't know. Will they win the division and go to the playoffs for the first time in 27 years? For the first time in a long time, it could happen, I don't know. 92 losses, 92 wins, or anything in between would not surprise a lot of us.

Everything goes here except Gameday threads and really big news. If a giant story breaks, the Royals achieve some awesome milestone, or we sign/lose a highly significant player/coach/mascot/whatever, then it might also deserve its own thread. This being Chiefs Planet, please do not clutter the board with new threads about trivial Royals news or you will only annoy those who come here for just Chiefs football. If you aren't sure and its not a Gameday thread, it goes here.

What sort of stuff often goes here? SPchief explained it well, so I'll just copy that:

Quote:

If you locate something of interest.. ANYTHING.. deals on apparel, best ways in/out of the stadium, giveaways, great stories from this season or from seasons gone by, rumors, trades, anything.... feel free to post it here.

1) I am glad Dayton is leaving Nashville. Hopefully, Myers for Shields is as dead as Al Davis.

2) The Mets would need to give up something more in return for Myers than Niese or Wheeler. Both would work.

3) Rumors that the Royals lead for Sanchez? Wow. And hey, if the Royals are going to make a panic move for a starting pitcher, I'd much rather see it be overpaying in years for a guy like AS than trading Wil Myers for dubious returns.

3) Rumors that the Royals lead for Sanchez? Wow. And hey, if the Royals are going to make a panic move for a starting pitcher, I'd much rather see it be overpaying in years for a guy like AS than trading Wil Myers for dubious returns.

This is best case scenerio. What a huge win that would be for this off season.

Anyone else listening to 610? I just caught pieces of a bit with some baseball analyst talking about how the big news from the WM was that the Royals are the front runners for Sanchez...is that right? I have been out of the loop on business for the last couple of weeks, but if we can sign Sanchez and not have to trade any prospects, I'm all for it.

I heard that. The guys reasoning seemed a little suspect, when Parkins pressed him on why he was so certain the Royals were going to spend for pitching he was like "because the time is right." Show me state, bitch.

Yeah. Sanchez is a better version of Gil Meche in terms of risk, I think. 5 years, $75 million would be a big dip for him (not sure if they can get him for that, but it matches his demands for 6 years). But...

He would be 29-33 over the years of that contract, which are still pitching prime years for most guys. He has been consistently durable since the torn labrum. He is a solid No. 2 with the stuff to be a very good No. 2. And he's good enough to be a Game 1 starter in a playoff series.

The other reason I think this would be a nice upgrade... Sanchez can take that "No. 1" role like Meche did, and take some pressure off the younger pitchers as they come up. If KC pulls this off, Jake Odorizzi no longer comes up needing to be the savior. Same with Duffy when he comes back from TJ, Paulino, Lamb, Zimmer, etc.

We all saw how much better Greinke was once that pressure was removed...

I also think the signing sets you up nicely to bring up the young pitchers (Ventura, Odorizzi, Zimmer, Lamb, etc) that are 1.5-2 years away from the majors. Being brought up gradually, as a piece rather than the answer...

Rany Jazayerli ‏@jazayerli
Six years ago, the Royals could afford to pay Gil Meche 5/$55M. But today, 5/$70M for Anibal Sanchez is too rich for their blood?

As has been said previously, if the trade for Santana limits our ability to sign AS.....well, that's a disgrace. I know the timing of the Santana deal was important because the Angels had to move him or let him go, but damn. If AS goes for 5/70, then once again DM hasn't been able to forecast the market and moved too soon on lesser players. That seems to happen every off-season. One of the skills necessary for a GM to succeed is to predict the market, as difficult as that may be. He's generally failed in that category.

With all that said, I'm guessing AS goes for more than 5/70. Once Greinke falls off, the teams left will have money to spend and AS is the next best guy.

As has been said previously, if the trade for Santana limits our ability to sign AS.....well, that's a disgrace. I know the timing of the Santana deal was important because the Angels had to move him or let him go, but damn. If AS goes for 5/70, then once again DM hasn't been able to forecast the market and moved too soon on lesser players. That seems to happen every off-season. One of the skills necessary for a GM to succeed is to predict the market, as difficult as that may be. He's generally failed in that category.

With all that said, I'm guessing AS goes for more than 5/70. Once Greinke falls off, the teams left will have money to spend and AS is the next best guy.

That's why I think AS gets quite a bit more than people are projecting. Someone will over pay and over pay big.

I don't trust a thing any of these guys say. We were all over Dickey, now today we weren't. We're either a front runner for Sanchez or we aren't even in on it. Nobodys knows dick. Twitter can go **** itself.

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The gist is that Sanchez has had at least 3.8 WAR the last three seasons, his velocity is up a tick since his injuries, and his periperals are better. The other SP's they looked at were Jackson, Dempster, McCarthy, Marcum, Liriano, Villanueva and Lohse.